Max DeLorenzo is still No. 1, but after that it's wide open, with Josh Marriner, Arkeel Newsome and Ron Johnson behind him, and coach Bob Diaco said that Newsome and Johnson will get more playing time.

Senior wide receiver Deshon Foxx, who saw a little action at quarterback in the waning moments of a 36-10 loss to Temple, is part of the QB mix.

Sophomore quarterback Tim Boyle is feeling well enough so that his lower body injury won't affect his play.

And during the bye week, the 1-4 Huskies tried to make the offense more effective and productive. They need to find ways to score.

"It's looking at what our players know, and what they do not know, and taking out and scaling back the things that we don't believe they know," Diaco said Tuesday at a press conference. "There's certain things we want to do. There are certain identifying characteristics of our team and, specifically, our offensive team, so we have to be good to great at those things.

Sound familiar? UConn (1-4) will be facing a team in a similar spot when the Huskies travel to New Orleans for a Saturday game (8 p.m., ESPNews).

Coach Bob Diaco, speaking on the AAC coaches' teleconference...

The Tulane Green Wave are 1-4, a young team coming off a bye week and searching for an identity.

Sound familiar? UConn (1-4) will be facing a team in a similar spot when the Huskies travel to New Orleans for a Saturday game (8 p.m., ESPNews).

Coach Bob Diaco, speaking on the AAC coaches' teleconference...

(PAUL DOYLE)

"And right now, we're just trying to become average to good at those things, so until that's the case, we can't move on."

What that all means, and whether UConn can muster more offense, will be known Saturday night at Tulane. The 1-4 Green Wave are 0-1 in league play; the Huskies 0-2.

The UConn defense and special teams, Diaco said, are on an upward trajectory. A perusal of the conference statistics shows UConn at the top of the league in many defensive categories and solid on special teams.

Temple defeated UConn 36-10 in an AAC football game Saturday afternoon at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

The Huskies are among the best in the AAC in time of possession, but that stat can be meaningless at times. And that is the case here. UConn has scored just 74 points in five games compared to the 142 they've given up. The Huskies average 12 points a game in the league and give up 26.5. And the turnover margin is a minus-6.

The problems are obvious.

"It's more of, well, not having a ton of plays but just doing the plays correctly," said Chandler Whitmer, the senior quarterback and starter. "You can have a thousand plays, but if you're not running them right, you're not going to be successful. I think we did good during the bye [week] of focusing on our assignments against every defensive look we could get and just being successful with those plays.

"It was see what we did well, continue to do that, build on that, and if there were any changes we needed to make ... we'd do that, too. It's scaled back, yeah, but we also switched it up as well, just being able to find stuff we do well."

Seems like the more Newsome (25 carries for 98 yards; four catches for 91 yards and one TD; 19.1 yards on 16 kickoff returns) is on the field, the more he has a chance to make things happen. He had the mistake against Boise State, a fumble that led to a first-quarter touchdown, but he isn't the only Husky running back to do that. And fellow freshman Johnson (21 carries, 82 yards) is more of a bruiser.

"They're all doing good," Diaco said of the running backs, including DeLorenzo (57 carries, 195 yards) and Marriner (24 carries, 52 yards, 1 TD). "They're all trying hard, all four have great attitudes. You are going to see Arkeel and Ron Johnson a lot more. ... Arkeel and Ron still don't know in great detail the protections and different things. There's still some growing that needs to happen with those guys. We can help manage that a bit for them."

Said Boyle: "Ron is a big back, so I think a 1-2 punch out of them is a great combination. Ron has the speed and the size, and obviously Arkeel, as you can see, he can make plays and make guys miss whenever he wants. I'm very excited I have both on my team. I can't wait to see what they do down the road."

Foxx split half of his junior season in high school (Lynchburg, Va.) between wide receiver and quarterback, but he played more receiver as a senior. In a wildcat-like role, Foxx rushed for 31 yards on three carries against Temple on Sept. 27.

Diaco said it is more than a wildcat role because Foxx can run the total offense.

Foxx ran a spread-like offense in high school, so he has some familiarity with what UConn does.

Diaco continues to call Boyle UConn's quarterback of the future and said there's no situation in which he would hesitate to put him in the game.

"I'm physically ready to go," said Boyle, who had a lower leg issue before the South Florida game and didn't play, then was used sparingly against the Owls.

"There's some discomfort, but nothing that would hold me back," Boyle said.

Obi Can Go

Sophomore safety Obi Melifonwu, who sustained an upper body injury in the second quarter against Temple, has been cleared to play. Punter Justin Wain (lower body) has been cleared to play but it will depend on how he feels on Saturday.